JPS609759A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a printer which is arranged to print a character pattern as a dot matrix so that it is capable of easily printing characters of many digits, even if it is a small printer, by adding a character generator of lateral character pattern. CONSTITUTION:In the character generator of a printer, 3 kinds of pattern, namely a normal order character pattern, inverse order character pattern and a lateral direction character pattern, are stored. The arrangement of data in a normal order character pattern area is in the order of A,B,C.... On one hand, the arrangement of data in an inverse order character pattern area is such that inverted characters are arranged in the order of A,B,C.... The arrangement of data in a lateral direction character pattern area is such that lateral direction characters are arranged in the order of A,B,C.... Consequently, normal order character printing, inverse order character printing, or lateral direction character printing can be freely selected by designating data stored in the character pattern area by means of the software of a CPU.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer, and particularly to a small printer capable of printing horizontal characters.

(2) Background of the technology In general, the printing methods of printers are the normal printing method, in which the fonts printed are erect in the direction of travel of the printing paper, as shown in Figure 1 (A). , as shown in FIG. 1(B), there is a reverse order printing method in which the fonts printed are upside down with respect to the direction of travel of the printing paper. Generally, in a small printer, the number of characters printed in the digit direction is about 80 digits.

(3) Prior Art and Problems A schematic configuration of a print control circuit of a conventional thermal printer is shown in FIG. In the circuit of Figure 2, CP
Character designation signal S1 and line designation signal S2 from UI
is input to a character generator (CG) 2, and a print location designation signal S3 is input to a decoder 3. The output signals of character generator 2 and decoder 3 are:
Thermal head 6 via buffers 4 and 5 respectively
is input. In the character generator 2, character patterns are stored in, for example, a 1-byte ROM.

By the way, in general, small printers have a maximum of about 80 digits, and it is impossible to print characters with more than 80 digits. Furthermore, there is a problem in that a large printer must be used to print a large number of digits.

(4) Purpose of the Invention An object of the present invention is to provide a printer that can easily print characters with a larger number of digits, even with a small printer, in view of the problems of the conventional type described above.

(5) Structure of the Invention The present invention provides a printer that prints character patterns stored in a character generator as a dot matrix, which is characterized by being equipped with a character generator for horizontal character patterns. .

(6) Embodiment of the Invention The configuration of a printer as an embodiment of the invention will be described below.

In the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention, the character generator stores three types of character patterns: a normal character pattern, a reverse character pattern, and a horizontal character pattern, as shown in FIG.

For example, if one character is printed using a 7.times.5 dot matrix, a regular character pattern such as alphanumeric characters can be stored in one byte of memory. Therefore, if R'OM with byte 3 is used as a character generator, byte 1 will be a normal character pattern area, next 1 will be a hide character pattern, and the remaining 1 byte will be a horizontal character pattern. It becomes a pattern. The data arrangement in the normal character pattern area is A, as shown in FIG.
They are arranged in the order of B, C---. On the other hand, in the data arrangement in the reverse order character pattern area, the reverse characters are arranged in the order of v, q, and -, as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the data in the horizontal character pattern area is arranged in the order of <, tO, 0-.

Therefore, in the present invention, by specifying the data stored in the character pattern area by the software of the CPU, it is possible to freely select forward printing, reverse printing, and horizontal character printing.

FIG. 7 shows the printout when horizontal character printing is instructed.

(7) As described in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to extremely easily print sentences with a large number of digits even on a small printer.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(A) and (B) are diagrams showing normal order printing and reverse order printing in a printer, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a print control circuit of a thermal printer, and FIG. 3 is a diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the memory area of the ROM of the character generator of the printer, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the memory configuration for normal character patterns, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the memory configuration for reverse character patterns. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a memory configuration of horizontal character patterns. 711th! 1 is a diagram showing horizontal printing in a printer. In the figure, l: cPU, 2: character generator, 3: decoder, 4.5: buffer, 6: thermal head. Figure 1 (A) (B) Figure 2 J,) Funeral Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A printer configured to print character patterns stored in a character generator as a dot matrix, characterized in that the printer is equipped with a character generator for horizontal character patterns.